A man will be serve a life sentence for his role in the murder of a koi pond business owner in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, in May 2025.
Jonah Michael Poole, 19, of Davidsonville, had pleaded guilty in March to first-degree murder in the death of Edward Stephen Koza, who owned Tropic Bay Water Gardens.
Kylee Alyssa Dakes, 19, Poole’s girlfriend, was also charged with first-degree murder and is scheduled to go on trial in December.
Authorities said on May 24, 2025, that they went to 600 West Central Avenue in Davidsonville about a report of a vehicle filled with flames in the parking lot of a commercial business. Upon arrival, they put out the fire and found human remains, later identified as Koza, in the passenger compartment.
Prosecutors said that Poole — who worked at Tropic Bay Water Gardens for a short period of time — and Dakes attacked Koza at his store, bounded his arms, taped his mouth and took him for a ride in his pickup truck. Then they soaked the vehicle with gasoline and set it on fire with Koa in the back seat.
In addition to being charged with Koza’s murder, Poole was also charged with two crimes that took place before the killing: spray-painting a swastika on an Edgewater, Maryland, school and stealing more than $11,000 from a dock bar where his girlfriend Dakes worked.
An investigation revealed that inside Koza’s business were broken items, blood and a pair of shoes, indicating that there was a struggle. Prosecutors said when they found Koza’s body, he didn’t have shoes on.
It was believed that Poole and Dakes drove the koi pond business owner’s truck to a gas station. According to a surveillance video, Dakes bought gasoline that was worth $10 before the truck was immolated.
After the fire was put out from the truck, investigators said they found a melted sprout of a plastic gas.
Due to Poole’s age and in addition to his life sentence, he’s been ordered to relinquish around $215,000 stolen from Koza and a $15,000 truck bought with more stolen funds to Koza’s estate, according to .
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